I was finally able to cross the Damyang Bamboo Forest off of my bucket list! It was awesome, and there are lots of pictures to prove it :)

We drove down on Wednesday and it was only about 4 hours away and a beautiful drive.

We arrived after dark so it was a little tricky to find the house that we were staying in. A korean friend of mine set up our accomodations and suggested what is called a pension, or basically a house rental. It was awesome!

There was a beautiful yard for the boys to play in and the owner brought out some balls for the boys to play with. They had a blast.

The house was a duplex and we stayed in the one on the left.

Here's the inside. Quaint and perfect. And what boy wouldn't love climbing up that ladder and sleeping in a loft?

Here's the shower/sink. I can't lie and say it wasn't weird to be showering right next to the sink!

Here's the boys relaxing, watching a show on my iPad. We'd been touring all day and it was hot and we all needed a break. Loft time!

Alright, now onto the forest. Remember how we were going to go a few weeks ago, but couldn't because of Dan's bike wreck? I think it was meant to be. As we were driving through Damyang to find our pension the place was all lit up and you could tell celebrations were going on. Guess what? We happened to come during their yearly Bamboo Festival!

The river was lined with booths and activities

The streets were lined with bamboo decorations. It made it a perfect time to experience Damyang!

Here it is! The entrance to the forest.

Starting off with a drink from a spring

You'll probably get sick of all these pictures, but I just thought it was SO beautiful. It was also fun to walk through because the trees provide a lot of shade and keep the temperature cool.

We didn't make the boys stay on the path. Who wouldn't want to run around and climb on these?

Daddy too!

A lot of the trees had been carved into, so we decided to add our own special sentiment. For those who don't know, Dan and I have a running 'EST' thing. It started with him saying (ready for some cheese) he was the luckiest, no I was the luckiest everest, etc. etc. etc. So we continually try to one up eachother. I got him pretty good by having it engraved endlessly on the inside of his wedding ring!

The boys were excited to find that there was a playground included in the bamboo park.

Anyone need a bathroom? Here's a bamboo sign showing you the way :)

These smaller sprouts are young bamboo trees.

Taking a rest from all the hiking.

Not a natural waterfall, but beautiful nonetheless.

They kids were very popular, as always, with the Korean girls. They see a lot less Americans or foreigners in Damyang. A group of girls offered to take our picture in turn for then posing with our boys. A welcome change to the hundreds of people who just take pictures of our boys. I wonder what they do with them....

After all that hiking it was time for lunch. We found this restaurant that offered samgyupsal and a Damyang style of beef. (Can I just say that I'm glad Dan has learned as much Korean as he has. Everything here was in Korean, no english for anything, and he was able to read most of it and figure out what it was! And communicate with sellers for some bargains!)

This beef is in a patty form, which apparently is unique to Damyang. I thought I would like it, but I didn't.

However, the bamboo they served was surprisingly tasty!

If there hadn't been a festival going on, I'm not sure what else we would have done with our time, maybe just hike some more. But we were able to find some fun activities for the family. First was a bike rental to ride along the river.

Here was a path lined with sequoia trees, which unfortunately cost, so we took this lone picture of it.

Dan explored a temple just across the street from our pension, and even rang the bell quietly.

Here are a couple of the houses right next to ours. Fun!

After our break at the house we went back to the festival. Our next activity was riding on these boats!

Crossing the river via different rock paths.

We would've fed the ducks if we had stuff to feed 'em with.

And after much searching for something for dinner, we found a local pizza place, got some drinks from the corner store and Dan found a surprise for the boys to do after dinner.

Fireworks! Bottle rockets and sparklers. The boys loved it, and this is something we definitely couldn't do in Seoul.

Can you see the EST?

What a great experience that we will always remember. (though I wish I could block out the traffic coming back into Seoul. 6 hour drive home vs. the 4 to get down there) My friends here in Korea should definitely take a trip down there!

Saturday, May 05, 2012 |
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comments:

Hi. I just wanted to say that i am so glad you have this blog. I discovered it about 5 months ago. Right around the time i started the Command sponsorship paper work. I arrived in Korea just 3 days ago. All the things you have done while here gives me so much to look forward to. :)